An entire year before we get the finished version of An Unexpected Journey, Peter Jackson treats us to a rich taste of what he has been doing this past year. From the familiar bucolic harmony of The Shire through Trollshaws, Rivendell, The Misty Mountains, and the vestiges of Mirkwood, we are right back in that world. A Middle-earth both instantly familiar and comforting, and alluringly new.

To set the scene, we are in The Shire, chronologically somewhere between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings with Ian Holm’s elderly Bilbo Baggins admitting to Frodo (Elijah Wood) he hasn’t been wholly forthcoming about the events of his own adventure. “I can honestly say I have told you the truth,” teases Holm’s Bilbo, “I may not have told you all of it.” Wood and Holm will form a framing mechanism for The Hobbit movies (notice how he's back at the same writing desk as seen in the extended version of The Fellowship Of The Ring). It’s also a mark of Weta’s prowess at matching real-life and studio work — Ian Holm’s scenes were shot entirely at Pinewood and included no exteriors. The connective tissue with the Rings films is made immediately explicit.

I can't wait to see the film tonight, especially the hippy wizard! As a pre warm up I have been watching this new comedy series 'A Simple Walk Into Mordor', It's quite funny...bit.ly/UbtgPo More

Posted by lucyIsabella on Thursday December 13, 2012, 12:11

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Count me in!

I can not wait for this as I love the books and the Peter Jackson films. The cast is once again spot on and I am so glad that Jackson returned to the directors chair to make this. In 3D this should be amazing! More

Posted by dannyfletch on Friday January 6, 2012, 22:28

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I can already see a few Oscars on the horizon for this film: Make-up, Art Direction and Costumes almost for sure (the last two depend on Spielberg's "Lincoln"). It's also quite probable that Howard Shore could win for the score, but that's a little unlikely, considering he's already won twice, and both times for films related to this series. Cinematography also seems a given (the Dol Guldur sequences convinced me of that, as well as the sweeping landscape shots of New Zealand), and if the 3D is well done, I think I will be proved right. At first I also thought visual effects, but after having seen the trailer to Ridley Scott's "Prometheus", I'm now leaning more towards that one instead (though it depends on what Jackson does with the Mirkwood spiders sequence, which I expect to be in the first film). Part 2 of "The Hobbit", thanks to Smaug the dragon, will most likely take the effects Oscar the following year. I wish for a directing Oscar too, but that's uMore

Posted by Aragorn22 on Monday December 26, 2011, 04:08

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The shot of the Ring is not under the Misty Mountains, it's in Mirkwood, I'm sure: look at all the spider webs; a very famous scene form the book. The Ring itself here is probably only used as a device to tie in the trailer to the LOTR trilogy. I don't think it will appear in the film as such. Anyway... Anyone notice they still haven't fixed Gandalf's sword, Glamdring, which should glow blue like Sting when near Orcs? I guess they had the same budgetary cuts as on the trilogy... Still, I am so psyched by this trailer, I almost came in my pants when first viewed (and heard, Shore's score being astounding) in theatres. Still no news on a Liv Tyler cameo, though, and that's a shame... More

Posted by Aragorn22 on Monday December 26, 2011, 03:23

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The appearance of the shards of Narsil suggest that Aragorn might be part of the film. At the time of "The Hobbit", Aragorn is 10 years old, and recently, the production have hired a 10 year-old boy named John Bell! More

Posted by Aragorn22 on Monday December 26, 2011, 03:01

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Look at this one shot more carefully in the trailer: that is not Sir Ian Holm... More

Loved the trailer, the singing was actually my favourite bit - full of pain and loss and memory. Although I would quibble that Armitage is no basso, but merely a bass or baritone. Basso profundos are really really deep. Perhaps I'm wrong though More

Posted by gambit21 on Thursday December 22, 2011, 13:33

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RE: Humbug

well...then I guess you won't watch the films.....because as with the book, the films are full of dwarves. More